Friday, November 9, 2012

Dr. Joseph William Pryor, professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the
University of Kentucky from 1890-1929, was a locally respected physician and
known in the international medical community for his work with early x-ray
technology to study ossification (the formation of bones) in the hands.

Dr. Pryor was born April 3, 1856, in Palmyra, Missouri, the son of Dr.
Joseph William Pryor, Sr., and Frances Bailey Pryor. After attending St. Paul's
College and Palmyra Seminary, he entered the University of Missouri Medical
School in October, 1875, and graduated in a special ceremony in honor of the
United States centennial on July 4, 1876. Beginning in 1877, Dr. Pryor served
as an assistant to Dr. John T. Hogden, Dean of the St. Louis Medical School,
before returning to Palmyra to practice.

Dr. Joseph Pryor

Dr. Pryor married Maggie Cheney of Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1881, and
the couple moved to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1882. In July of that year, Dr.
Pryor was one of the founding organizers of the Lexington and Fayette County
Medical Society. He also led the attempt by that society to establish a free
dispensary for the poor of Lexington, which opened in October of 1882.

Dr. Pryor was the physician of several "firsts" in Lexington,
including being the first to administer ether as an anesthetic and the first to
perform a rib resection. He served as City Physician for two terms beginning in
1886, and was a member of both the city and county boards of health in the
early 1900s. He was also involved in charity work at several Lexington
hospitals.

Dr. Joseph W. Pryor standing in front of podium

Dr. Pryor's association with the University of Kentucky began in 1885, when
he became Medical Examiner for the school. In 1890 he was chosen as chair and
professor of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology and began teaching. By
1894, he had developed an interest in the establishment of standards for
preparatory education for medical school, including developing a certificate
program at the University of Kentucky which would be accepted by several
medical schools.

Faculty member Joseph Pryor, shown here, and Merry Pence,
together built this early x - ray machine, 1896

Following his wife's death in 1896, Dr. Pryor married Eleanor Hancock, a
former student, on July 4, 1898. The couple's only child, a son, was born in
June of 1899 but died slightly over a year later. Eleanor Pryor painted the
portrait of her husband which was later hung in Memorial Hall on the University
of Kentucky campus.

First x - ray by Dr. Pryor, 1900

Dr. Pryor's work with x-rays began in February of 1896, only three months
after Wilhelm Roentgen of Wurzburg, Germany, announced his discovery of the
technology. Dr. Pryor, working with another professor (Merry Lewis Pence), developed
an x-ray of the hand of one of his patients. Dr. Pryor had previously amputated
the hand, and used the x-ray to evaluate how the hand was healing. Later, Dr.
Pryor used x-rays of the hands of children in the public city schools to study
ossification (the formation of the bones) in the hand. He also studied x-rays
of subjects of multiple births, particularly quadruplets, to discover if the
births were mono or poly-zygotic. Dr Pryor published multiple journal articles
on these topics.

Men taking an X-Ray of a horse's foot for Sphar. The X - Ray
was most likely taken by Dr. Pryor, 1911

Dr. Pryor retired from the University of Kentucky in 1929, but remained an
Emeritus Professor and professor on special assignment until his death on March
17, 1956, only three weeks before his hundredth birthday.